


Another Night

by beriallen



Category: Korean Actor RPF, Running Man RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Monday Couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-26
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-07-18 10:07:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7310662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beriallen/pseuds/beriallen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A "Lonely Night" MV AU, where Ji Hyo is an office worker and Gary is a rookie rapper.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> She asked for his phone number first.<br/>“If I didn’t know any better,” he said. “I’d think you were hitting on me.”<br/>Ji Hyo let her hair fall over her face. It was easier to hide her blush that way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Night

 

_While out on the landing, a friend I forgot to send home_

_Who waits up for me all through the night_

_—Calendar Girl_ , Stars

 

 

 

 

 

**Nighttime. Rooftop.**

 

 

Her first word to him was a curse.

A breathless and restrained one, but a curse still.

In her defense, running into another person on the rooftop was something she never anticipated. All those times she spent on her own, but on this particular night—

A man was leaning on the ledge, his back to her, looking out the city. At her cursing, though, he turned his head slowly, peeking at her over his shoulder. She stood too far to notice any discomfort in the man’s expression; then again, he was wearing a hoodie that hid most parts of his face. If his relaxed shoulders were any indication, though, he didn’t seem to be bothered at all.

Ji Hyo fiddled with her earphones, unceremoniously ripping them off her ears, just in time to hear him call out to her.

“Excuse me?” There was something muffled about his voice, as if he was biting the inside of his cheek when he talked. Reflex made her sniff the air, but she could only smell the faded scent of cigarette smoke from downstairs.

The ends of her earphones hung limply, softly knocking against her thighs. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I thought there’s no one here.”

He straightened himself and wheeled around to face her completely, putting his hands inside the pockets of his jeans all the while. “You looking for someone?” he asked, jerking his chin in her direction.

Ji Hyo shook her head. “No, I’ll just—” she said, pointing her thumb at the rooftop door somewhere behind her.

She was about to turn on her heel when he stopped her. “How do you know this place?”

She supposed it was to be expected, the question. Didn’t mean she was ready with an answer, though.

She raised her eyebrows. “Yes?” she said, keeping his question at bay.

He took a few steps forward. “How do you know this place?” His voice got louder too, although his sentence was still slurred.

Ji Hyo glanced at the steel door instinctively, considering. She looked back at him, pursing her lips when she caught him inching closer toward her. She coughed, and answered him anyway.

“Oh, a friend told me about it.”

She waited for a response, but when it didn’t come, Ji Hyo continued, “Yeah, she— She was in this band, and I came here one time, and she showed me this place.”

His forehead furrowed at that. “So your friend’s band renting the studio on the third floor too?”

“Yes, yes! That studio!” she said. “But no, she doesn’t have a band anymore. It was a long time ago, so—” Ji Hyo swallowed then and added, out of politeness, “So you’re renting the studio now?”

He nodded, listlessly. “Yeah,” he muttered.

Her fingers circled around the earphone cords once. Twice. Ji Hyo sucked in a breath.

“Anyway,” she blurted out, breaking the silence. “I’ll just be on my way, then.”

“Why are you here, again?” He asked her all of a sudden, as if she hadn’t spoken at all.

“I—,” she started, searching for a lie.

But he never let her find one.

“Wait, is that?” he interrupted, lessening the gap between them at the same time. He pulled his right hand out of his pocket and flicked his wrist toward nothing in particular. His gaze traveled down too, stopping only when it reached her thighs. It made her flinch and she stepped backward, crossing her arms over her chest. Only then was she aware of the phone she held in her left hand, and of the fact that the song she had been listening on the way here was still playing. She wondered if she should call someone, in case of emergency; she questioned herself too: _Call who?_

But he gaped at her then; there was a certain glint on his eyes that made him seem half-crazed. And the left end of his lips curled upward.

“You’re listening to that song!” he stated; the excitement in his tone weaved around his mumbles.

She peered down, chewing on her lower lip when she heard the faint sound of music coming from her nearly forgotten earphones. She thought about the bus she took to get here. She wondered if she had played the song too loud. She had been repeating the song throughout the bus ride; did the _ahjumma_ sitting beside her hear it too?

“Yes,” she croaked, although he wasn’t really asking anything.

He just grinned.

Ji Hyo gulped and tapped the pause button on the screen of her phone, finally. It must have amused him because he let out a short chuckle; the quiet of the night made it more discernable than it should.

But then he shrugged. “Well,” he said. “Enjoy, then.”

She gave a quick smile and headed for the door almost immediately. She half expected him to stop her again with another question.

He didn’t this time.

 

 

 

 

 

**The same night. Bus.**

She thought about texting Ie Rang. Perhaps she should let Ie Rang know that what she said a few years ago was wrong; that somebody else other than them actually came to the rooftop, that the boys who hung around at the studio were not too scared of heights, after all. At least one of them wasn’t.

But her eyes caught sight of the clock on her phone. 09:56 PM.

_That late, huh?_

She listened to the song again, instead. She turned down the volume too, just in case. The phone screen shone a bit brighter at her touch and she found the song’s cover art staring back at her. Below it, the title. The artist.

 _Gary_.

She gasped.

This time, the _ahjumma_ sitting beside her did hear her.

 

 

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

 

**Nighttime. Rooftop.**

 

“You really are nuts, aren’t you?”

The voice came from behind her, and Ji Hyo turned her head toward the sound.

She was sitting on the ledge, her legs hanging over it. She did this every time she came up here. Sometimes she would wonder what might happen if one of her heels just fell off and hit someone in the head.

She blinked.

It was that guy. Of course it was that guy. _Gary._

“Gary,” she repeated, out loud this time.

He was standing not far from the ledge, watching her with creases on his forehead. But hearing his own name made him smirk. “So you’ve looked me up on the Internet,” he snickered.

Ji Hyo opened her mouth. “I, I’m,” she stuttered. “I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you. My friend, the one who told me about this place, she was the one who told me about your song. I mean, I don’t usually listen to that kind of music, anyway.”

His eyes went wide at that. “Wow.”

“No,” she cried out. “I didn’t mean it that way!” Her mind raced all of a sudden; there were thoughts of age, appropriateness, honorifics and many other things she had been taught about by her mother. She had to get off the ledge, probably. Offer him a handshake. A bow. But there was a matter of her skirt, and she remembered why she enjoyed staying out here alone.

She started to shuffle around. Her movements were awkward and it wasn’t long before she sighed and stopped fidgeting altogether. It made him giggle for some reason, and Ji Hyo huffed, rolling her eyes at him.

“No, seriously,” he said afterward, when his giggling died down. “Are you alright? Aren’t you scared?”

Ji Hyo squinted at him. “You were doing the same thing last night, though?”

“What? I was leaning very carefully on this.” He glided closer to stand near where she was sitting and poked the ledge. “I wasn’t sitting on it!” He added later, as if by an afterthought, “I’m not crazy!”

She scoffed loudly. She figured she should be offended.

Instead, she just laughed.

Sometime amidst that, he managed a grin and leaned closer, resting his elbows on the ledge. He let out a breath too, and scanned the city below. Ji Hyo followed suit.

“I really love your song,” she whispered, despite herself.

She could feel him beaming beside her. “Thanks,” he murmured.

 

 

 

 

**The same night. Bus.**

Somehow before she left, she already gave him her name, was told to not address him as “Oppa” (he glared and told her, “Don’t you dare make me feel old!”), argued against it and eventually agreed to call him by his full name.

“Kang Gary,” she mumbled to herself then. She was on a bus, her thumb caressing her phone. Perhaps she should tell Ie Rang about this. _Guess who I met?_  

But that could wait.

 

 

 

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

**Nighttime. Rooftop.**

He told her about his upcoming tour. Busan, Jeju, Daegu. “I won’t be here for a couple of days. So. You know,” he said. “Don’t go jumping off the ledge while I’m not around.”

She snorted. “Only if you promise to bring me back some _makgeolli_ from Jeju.”

Gary scrunched up his nose. “Ow!” he exclaimed. “I can’t believe you like that disgusting thing. I thought you were a better person than this!”

“Yeah, right,” she said, clicking her tongue. “That’s pretty big coming from you!”

He gave a throaty laugh at that. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh I’ve seen your old music video,” she snapped, shooting him a glare. “Do you really have to objectify women that way?” Gary started to speak, but hesitated and came up with nothing, leaving his jaw hanging. “And don’t even try to tell me it wasn’t made for girls. You seriously don’t want at least half of the world’s population to enjoy your music?”

She had nothing else to say to him and ran her tongue over her lips. She meant every word but she found herself trying to stifle a giggle. She was self-conscious, but not really. She was never good with strangers, but this was something new altogether.

But Gary was still looking at her wide-eyed, as if waiting for more. When he finally realized she was done, he pressed his lips together, slumping his shoulders forward. And there was just something in the expression he wore that dissolved everything around her, and she burst into laughter.

He scratched his hair, then, dipping his head sheepishly. But there was a smirk forming when he glanced back at her. “So you’ve really looked me up.”

She punched him hard in the arm.

 

 

 

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

 

**Nighttime. Rooftop.**

 

It was two weeks before he could give her her _makgoelli_.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

They both finished a bottle that night.

 

 

 

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

 

**Nighttime. Rooftop.**

 

She asked for his phone number first.

It started with a dog. A talk about a dog, rather. Her dog. A question. “Do you like dogs?”

Gary’s eyes narrowed even more than usual. “Do _I_ like dogs?” he sneered. “I _am_ a dog.”

She started talking about a video she once saw online. “I’ll send you a link,” she said, before she knew it. And that’s when she asked him his number.

A snicker escaped under his breath. “If I didn’t know any better,” he said. “I’d think you were hitting on me.”

Ji Hyo let her hair fall over her face. It was easier to hide her blush that way.

 

 

 

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

 

**Daytime. Office.**

Her phone buzzed.

 

_I’m man enough to admit that I cried over_

_that video you sent me_

_Told you so!_

_I hate you_

_You’re welcome ;)_

 

 

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

 

**Nighttime. Rooftop.**

“Remember when we first met and you thought I was a murderer?”

Ji Hyo couldn’t help but giggle. “You’ll never let that go, won’t you?”

Gary dropped his gaze, smirking at the ground. “That will be a good story to tell,” he said, his voice soft.

She didn’t ask what he meant.

******

**Nighttime. Rooftop.**

“I’m beginning to think that you don’t have any friends."

Ji Hyo glowered at him, seeking a retort in the meanwhile. But by then, she had found out that he was the witty one of the two and, finding nothing, she ended up just eyeing him, watching the all-familiar turn of the right end of his lips.

Familiar. She didn’t know when they got there in the first place.

Ji Hyo cleared her throat. “I do have a friend, as a matter of fact!” she said, rather defensively. “She’s the one who told me about your song, remember?”

He looked up and, after a few beats, nodded slowly. “Ah,” he said. “I guess I should be thanking her for introducing us.” He buried his hands inside his pockets too afterward. “You said she was in a band?”

Ji Hyo turned her attention to her lap, tracing a pattern on her skirt with her eyes. “She was,” she spoke under her breath, smoothing her skirt down. “I don’t see her much now, though. It’s different now she has a family. I mean, I still think she’s a really great friend.” She was sitting on the ledge again and her feet dangled under her. He still thought she was mad for doing that, and refused to join her, choosing to stand near her at most times; on this night, though, he was busy pacing around, kicking a bunch of little rocks with his shoes. 

“But you know,” she continued, shrugging.

There was silence before she heard a rustle from behind, like the sound made by a pair of sneaker soles when being dragged lazily. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted him treading lightly toward the ledge, putting one foot in front of the other with utmost care. He brought his hands on top of the ledge too, lacing his fingers together in the meanwhile. She stole a glance at him, then, but hurriedly ducked to survey the traffic below when she caught his stare.

“How about at work?” he asked all of a sudden.

She almost choked on her laughter. “I’m a new kid,” she replied. “Apparently there’s this unwritten rule in the office. You’re supposed to be rude to the new kids.”

Ji Hyo was quiet afterward. She blinked at her heels and rubbed her temple too, for lack of a better thing to do.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled after a while.

She waved a hand. “Don’t be,” she said and, taking a breath, finally shared his look. “I can handle most of them. Except for this one douchey guy, I’m fine.”

Gary tilted his head to the side, narrowing his eyes. “Doo-ssi?”

She laughed so hard that Gary had to grip her wrist to try to keep her from falling off the ledge.

 

 

 

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

 

**Daytime. Office.**

                                                                                                _Oh my god! Doo-ssi totally just asked_

_“Who’s Audrey Hepburn?”_

_Seriously!????????_

_He said he’s never heard of her lol_

_I hate this guy already!_

_Meet you later?_

_Definitely!_

 

 

 

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

 

**Daytime. Lunch.**

It was the weekend and she really wanted to catch on her sleep. But Ie Rang was free for the day—something about her kid being away on a field trip—and Ji Hyo was out of excuses. So there they were, sitting face to face in a Japanese restaurant with two bowls of ramen between them.

“Guess who I met?” she told Ie Rang; she felt as if she had practiced the sentence over and over again in her head. And the story that followed; she had imagined saying it out loud too.

Ie Rang spun her chopsticks between her fingers while she listened, waiting for Ji Hyo to finish. When she did, Ie Rang wasted no time at all.

“So you have a boyfriend I didn’t know about?”

This, she didn’t see coming. Ji Hyo never practiced the answer to that.

 

 

 

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

 

**Nighttime. Rooftop.**

Sometimes Gary would sneak a mat out of the studio, carried it upstairs and they would sit on it together, side by side. Ji Hyo would take off her blazer and spread it across her lap while she sat with her legs crossed. He would throw a joke, she would crack up until her body shook, and her shoulder would rub against his. And she wouldn’t mind because he was warm.

On this night, they were pressed even closer together, their arms overlapping as they huddled over her phone.

“This is why people have SNS,” Gary said while her finger slid up and down the screen, each of them groaning in frustration at every single preposterous post Doo-ssi made on his Instagram.

Ji Hyo nodded her head once. “You know,” she said, giving him a slight nudge. “They say friendship is about hating on the same people together.”

“I guess it’s true,” Gary tipped his head back too to let out a short laugh, and she stopped scrolling through her phone for a while to watch the way his jaw move.

Her eyes shut and then not, and she shook her head, sighing.

“Why is he the way he is?” she asked afterward.

Gary shrugged. “My best guess is,” he answered, “he’s peaked. And he knows he’s peaked. He was probably a soccer star in his high school, dated the prettiest girl too, maybe.” He opened his palms, then, and placed them above his knees. “But years pass, pretty girls get smarter, he gets dumber, and now he just hates them, you know?”

Her eyebrows knitted. “He’s so mean to me, though.” 

There was a pause where Gary blinked, slowly. “Well,” he breathed. He looked at her too, his eyes rounded a little. He took more time before swallowing cautiously.

And then he continued. “You’re beautiful.”

Ji Hyo cackled at that, tugging strands of hair behind her ear. “Hmm, thanks?” she muttered.

This should be the time for one of his funny one-liners, and she watched him intently, like it was some kind of a dare. It’s just that he was usually up to the challenge and she listed her head, waiting. But Gary wasn’t looking at her anymore, turning his palms down to cup his own knees before rubbing them up and down his jeans.

Somewhere on the streets below, sirens were screaming.

“Kang Gary—”

He got up all of a sudden.

“Just leave the mat here, I’ll come and get it in the morning,” he blurted out.

“They’ll know we took it away without asking first.”

“Or later tonight.”

He rocked on his heels. “Gotta go,” he said, abruptly. And then he was gone.

There was a rush of wind sweeping across the rooftop and Ji Hyo had to curl against herself, shivering. This was a surprise.

She was always the one who left first.

 

 

 

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

 

**Daytime. Office.**

 

                                                                                                _There’s a new girl at the office._

_So you’re allowed to be mean now?_

_Technically yes..._

_I honestly can’t imagine you being mean_

_Hey! I can be mean_

_No you’re right I can’t lol_

_I mean I can but you know...._

_Yeah I get it_

_But don’t be a Doo-ssi, you know?_

_Yes_

_Yeah..._

_:)_

_You’re still going to text me about_

_all the stupid things Doo-ssi says?_

_Of course!_

_You’re so weird, btw_

_That’s why girls can’t leave me ;)_

_Istg I just coughed out my coffee_

**

 

 

 

 

 

**Nighttime. Rooftop.**

There was another tour coming. “I’m kind of a big hit nowadays,” he said, grinning.

“You’ve always been, though,” she said, and stared at him.

He turned his gaze down at that, his mouth twitching at his sneakers. “It’s New York this time.” He cleared his throat, and pressed on, raising his voice in the meanwhile. “The good thing is, I have no way of getting you a Jeju _makgoelli_ ,” he finished then, and grinned at his own joke.

It just slipped out of her lips. “I’ll miss you, you know.”

She was quiet, then, watching him as he exhaled a shaky breath, his shoulders tensed as his fists found the pockets of his jeans.

“Yeah,” he mumbled, and spoke nothing else.

 

 

 

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

**Daytime. Apartment.**

 

It was the weekend again, and she got the alone time she wanted. Ji Hyo was lying on her bed, doing anything but sleeping. She blinked at the ceiling, thinking about getting a bath, knowing very well she wouldn’t.

Something whimpered and she didn’t even have to look down to know it was coming from her dog, sleeping—and apparently dreaming—under her bed. Ji Hyo had given him his breakfast and walked him for a few minutes in the morning. She thought about what people usually did with their dogs on weekends, wondering if she should give him a bath.

But her hand reached for the phone next to her pillow.

She hated talking on the phone. Too many awkward pauses and not enough time to think about what response she was supposed to give. But her thumbs swiped across the screen, and she found herself dialing Ie Rang’s number.

She half wished Ie Rang wouldn’t pick up.

“Umm, hello?”

Of course she picked up.

“Hi,” Ji Hyo greeted.

“Yeah?” came the reply.

Ji Hyo swallowed. “Are you busy?”

Her friend asked her another question instead. “What’s going on?”

Ji Hyo could feel a frown burrowing into her forehead. “What?”

She could hear a chuckle from the other end. “You never called me first, you silly!”

Ji Hyo gasped. “Really?” she asked. She could almost picture Ie Rang too, perching her hand on her hip and rolling her eyes. Here’s the thing: she already knew it was true; she never called Ie Rang first. She knew it was true, and she didn’t need to be reminded of that.

“Remember the guy I was telling you about?” she said quickly then, if only to avoid being berated. If she was being completely honest, though, she just wanted to get everything off her chest. Before she could change her mind.

Ie Rang was being uncharacteristically careful, waiting for a few beats before she said, “You mean your boyfriend?”

Ji Hyo let out a loud growl, making sure Ie Rang could hear it over the phone. That only made her friend laugh. “No, sorry,” she managed after a while. “What about him?”

And there it was, the awkward pause.

Ji Hyo took a breath, and let it out slowly. She closed her eyes too because it was already noon and the sunrays bleeding into her room was blinding, making them burn—or so she convinced herself. She didn’t open her eyes for some time; she didn’t speak either. But she could hear noises from a TV that wasn’t hers, and she remembered why she and Ie Rang got along so well. Her nose crinkled, then, and tears rolled out of her eyelids so easily. A low sound reverberated from the back of her throat, and she was pretty sure Ie Rang could hear it, but the other woman was patient, offering nothing at all.

Ji Hyo’s voice cracked when she finally talked again. “Ie Rang-yah,” she whispered. “What to do?”

Ie Rang inhaled before she sighed, slowly, “Well, you said he was witty. And you were the one sitting on the ledge.”

Ji Hyo sniffed and opened her eyes. Everything was blurry, and her cheeks were wet. There was a sound from below her bed that informed her that her dog had woken up. Taps of tiny paws and uncut nails, and then a shrill bark.

“Oh,” she said, then.

Ie Rang was chuckling again. There was another moment of quietness before her friend spoke, “Ji Hyo-yah. I’m glad you called.”

Ji Hyo peeked down at her dog, watching him as he wagged his tail. She smiled to herself. “Me too.”

 

 

 

 

 

**

 

 

 

 

 

**Nighttime. Rooftop.**

Being busy made Ji Hyo forget a lot of things. But, the night Gary landed in Seoul, she met him on the rooftop.

That, she couldn’t not remember.

“You won’t believe how stupid I am,” she called out to him as a way of greeting. He was walking toward her when she did so and froze abruptly to squint at her.

Gary resumed after a while. “What?” he asked too as he crept closer.

Ji Hyo caught a breath. “I wanted to bring _soju_ from home for you.” She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms. “You must have missed it. You were away so long! I didn’t forget last night, but this morning I just left it in the fridge.”

Gary was amused. “You know there are Korean restaurants in New York, right?”

“I know, I know,” she uttered, still hiding behind her fingers. She grumbled a little and combed through her hair with her fingers, pushing strands out of her face. “I just want to give it to you,” she continued, then.

“Well,” he snickered. “Why?”

She raised her shoulders. “A peace offering.”

“What?” he said before guffawing.

But she was more serious than ever. “Kang Gary,” she began, and there was sternness in the tone of her voice that surprised even her. “You never texted me from New York.”

Gary’s smile disappeared at that. His mouth went dry, and he seemed to be thirsting for words. When he did reply her, it sounded a lot like an accusation. “You never texted me from Seoul.” He cast his eyes downward, too, trying to focus on his own hands; empty palms, calloused fingers and all.

She squared her shoulders, then. “I asked for your phone number first,” she said for reasons she really couldn’t comprehend.

Gary was just as confused. “What?” he asked in a shrill voice.

Ji Hyo bit her lower lip, allowing herself to think. And Gary still held her gaze, tilting his head to the side a little.

“Ji Hyo-yah,” he called out to her, his voice soft and gentle. And the fact that it made her throat burn and her eyes feel hot all of a sudden irked her. So much that she began taking short, rapid breaths. When he called her name once more—worry filling his voice this time—something inside her chest seemed to twist and turn, and she burst into tears.

Gary extended a hand at that, but it fell back on his side before reaching her shoulder. She brought her palms over her face and between her fingers, she could see Gary as he swallowed and curled his hands into fists. Ji Hyo thought of Ie Rang, talking to her over the phone. “You’re the one sitting on the edge of the ledge,” her friend had told her.

Ji Hyo uncovered her face, then. “You know I’m not happy, right?”

At that, Gary looked away, fixing his eyes on an invisible point next to Ji Hyo. “I know,” he mumbled after some time. There were wrinkles on his forehead as he took his time to breathe slowly. He was still avoiding her eyes when he continued, “It takes one to know one. You just _can’t_ be happy and come to this rooftop all by yourself.”

Ji Hyo put her hands on top of each other and placed them in front of her chest. Her tears didn’t allow her to see clearly, and she took a cautious step nevertheless, and another, and another until she finally stood in front of him; close enough to cup his chin in her hand and turn his face toward hers, if she wanted to.

But Gary had already looked back at her, and so she steeled herself. “Why didn’t you text me from New York?” she asked again.

“I was—,” he started, and then stopped. He ran his tongue over his lips and widened his eyes in determination, and continued. “I told you,” he said. “You’re beautiful.”

Ji Hyo let out a scoff unthinkingly and at the sound, Gary blinked at her. They were so close and she could sense the warmth of his skin again. She was thinking of something to say, but Gary was still looking at her, and she wanted it to last forever, so she stayed quiet, sharing his look and staring back instead.

It took everything in her to finally drop her gaze, trying to search for his right hand. When she did find it, she wrap it in her left one and intertwined their fingers together. Gary, though, didn’t even look down as he squeezed her hand in his and let out a crooked smile at her.

“Is this it?” he breathed.

Ji Hyo snorted. “You’re such a _babo_ sometimes,” she said, as Gary laughed. “Want to go somewhere else?”

Gary chuckled, and answered, “I’d love to.”

 

 

 

 

**The same night and all the nights afterward. Somewhere else.**

 

 

 

 

End.


End file.
